This invention concerns traction enhancing cleats for attachment to boots or shoes, particularly for flexible boots or shoes, functioning as a soft-boot crampon engaged under the ball of the foot but not the heel. In another aspect, the invention concerns such a terrain-engaging cleat which, when worn on a boot, can be secured to a snowshoe by stepping into the snowshoe, serving as a front cleat for the snowshoe.
Crampons, ice creepers and cleats for attachment to boots or shoes are very well known. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 37,558, 754,577, 988,527, 1,045,565, 1,200,658, 1,230,118, 1,570,791, 1,728,783, 2,317,647, 2,358,066, 2,401,891, 2,579,143, 2,920,403, 4,005,533, 4,620,375, 4,745,692, 4,910,883, 5,787,612; French Patent No. 1,189,492 and German Patent No. DE 30 19 129 A1.
Conventional crampons essentially comprise rigid boot attachments which attach to the bottom of a boot sole by bales forming part of the crampons. These technical terrain-engaging devices require a substantially rigid boot, stiff like a downhill ski boot, because the crampon does not have any appreciable flexibility which could bend with the bending of a flexible boot. A crampon of this general type is shown in the above U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,883, and is also shown in the copending application Ser. No. 9,948. The above U.S. Pat. No. 754,577 also shows an essentially rigid type of crampon device.
Various types of ice creepers or cleats have been proposed for use on flexible boots or shoes, as reflected in some of the patents listed above. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,570,791, 1,728,783, 2,401,891, 2,579,143 and 4,005,533 all show such cleats or creepers which reside in the arch area of the shoe or boot, just ahead of the heel. The cleat devices of those patents are retained on the boots using straps. Some of these show angled teeth, including front teeth angled downwardly/forwardly and including teeth with faces obliquely angled so as to achieve some degree of lateral traction as well as fore/aft traction.
U.S. Pat. No. 988,527 shows a flexible shoe having a heel element and a separate toe element, both secured to the shoe and with a form of spikes, for use by carpenters, roofers, etc. to prevent the wearer from slipping.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,692 shows an anti-slip toe cleat device which has capability of pivoting or folding from one position to another. The hardware is permanently attached to the shoe, in the ball area.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,647 shows a strap-attachable ice creeper device which fits in the arch and ball area of the shoe or boot, with teeth positioned in the ball area of the foot. Some of the teeth are angled, and the cleat device apparently is useable on a flexible shoe or boot.
French Patent No. 1,189,492 discloses a simple form of ice creeper comprising a single strap that wraps around the toe area of the shoe or boot and which has, fitted onto the strap, two cleats side-by-side under the ball of the foot, each cleat having forward and rear racks of teeth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,491, owned by the assignee of the present invention, describes a contoured footbed for the front portion of a boot, the footbed being on the top surface of a front claw or cleat of a snowshoe. That patent is incorporated herein by reference.
In climbing or steep terrain hiking in snowy and icy conditions, the climber often needs to switch from wearing snowshoes on the boots to crampons on the boots, and back to snowshoes as fields of deeper snow are again encountered. To change from ice crampons to snowshoes, the user normally has to release the crampon's bales from front and back of the boot, remove the crampons and stow them in or on a pack, take out a pair of snowshoes from the pack, with their relatively heavy toe harness assemblies and cleats, and secure the snowshoes to the boots using several harness straps. In conditions where deep snow and ice are alternately encountered, the hiker or climber would be much better served if the crampon teeth could serve as the cleats for the snowshoes, and this is a primary object of the invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,375 disclosed a snowshoe wherein the user's boot was secured to a binding on an ice crampon. The crampon had toe and heel cleats which passed down through openings in toe and heel areas of the snowshoe deck when the user's boot was pivoted to the heel-down position, so that the crampon cleats served as cleats for the snowshoe. A horizontal pivot pin had to be assembled through the snowshoe frame and the crampon binding.
The copending application Ser. No. 9,948 referenced above describes a snowshoe for receiving conventional crampons, the snowshoe having openings in its deck at front and rear. The snowshoe is adapted to receive a conventional crampon secured to a user's boot in a step-in arrangement which was designed to afford fast and efficient securement of the boot and crampon to the snowshoe. The crampon's teeth, both the front set and back set, then serve as snowshoe cleats. The snowshoe can quickly be removed from the boot and crampon when ice is encountered.
The described arrangement works well for those using rigid, full-boot crampons. However, there is also a need for a more versatile crampon or cleat, for use on a flexible boot which bends with walking of the user. In particular, there is a need for such a cleat which engages under only the ball area of the boot, using a harness which is conveniently secured to and removed from the boot. In addition, there is a need for such a soft-boot terrain-engaging cleat or crampon which has a further utility of engaging with a snowshoe having a dedicated receiving device in the front area of the snowshoe, to lock the cleat in position on the snowshoe firmly against rotation or looseness as in the system described above, and with the ability to conveniently engage the boot-attached cleat with the snowshoe and to easily remove it from the snowshoe.